'Subway' on Serious Eats

Flatizza. Just try to say that out loud. It looks easy, but it took me three tries to say it to the sandwich artist over at my neighborhood Subway. If you couldn't figure it out by the name, a "Flatizza" is Subway's version of a pizza, done their way. Er, your way. The recipe is simple: Take one of the flatbreads they use for flatbread sandwiches, swirl some pizza sauce on it, and top it with cheese, veggies, and/or meat. Pop that sucker in one of their quick toaster ovens, and voila, you've got some kind of pizza thing! Mmm...pizza thing. More

What does The Hunger Games have to do with Subway's new Sriracha Steak Melt and Sriracha Chicken Melt? Your guess is as good as mine. As best as I can determine from the logo, fire seems to be important. So now Subway's "Fiery FOOTLONG Collection" is a thing...again. More

The Subway Big Philly Cheesesteak can't compete with a freshly cooked rendition from a good corner sub shop, but I've had worse. The improved steak combined with Subway's good-enough bread makes for a fine fast food steak-and-cheese sandwich before you even get to the customizing (banana pepper rings!!!). More

If "cheesesteak" comes up in a word association game, chances are you'll say "Philly." But, unless you're in the City of Brotherly Love, it's often hard to find a decent one—or find one at all. As a lifelong cheesesteak fanatic and native Pennsylvanian (though from the west side of the state), I decided to see how some of the big sub chains would stack up in the cheesesteak department: Subway, Quiznos, Blimpie, and New England favorite D'Angelo.More

Heat. It can be of the best ways to attract customers to a dish. Some respond to the lure of spice; some (often guys) can't resist the implied challenge of a really hot sauce—how much can you take without reaching for the glass of water? Subway recently began advertising its Fiery Footlongs, two subs "packed with heat"—which I thought merited a test. More

In the age of corporate strategy, there's no way a competitor will let you dominate a market unchallenged for very long. A while back, Dunkin' began offering egg white flatbread sandwiches, a lower-calorie alternative to its heavier breakfast fare—and to bolster their breakfast offerings, Subway now makes flatbread versions of their own breakfast sandwiches. I set out to see how they would compare. More

Fast-food brings to mind all sorts of negative terms—"fried," "greasy," and "artery-clogging" probably among them. That said, some American chains do provide lighter fare at a similar pace and price to a McDonald's or a Burger King. Wholesome? Homemade? Maybe not—but fast-food sandwich shops are, no question, among the healthier of your fast-food options. This week, we put Subway to the test against Quiznos, in a face-to-face showdown of the sub-shop chains. More

"Subway actually has pretty strict rules about how much of each toppings they can put on your sandwich. My friend worked there, and I read the employee manual once. The line I remember is 'Do not let the customer abuse our generosity with olives.' Now I make a point of it." —CebronJames re "The Schumwich"More

The "Schumwich" is New York Senator Chuck Schumer's sandwich of choice, and, according to the Post, "an inside joke of sorts among the armies of political aides who have slaved away in Schumer's office." It's a roast beef sandwich on Italian bread, with mayo and mustard—plus banana peppers, pickled jalapeños, extra onions, extra tomatoes, and extra extra pickles: two full layer's worth. Clearly, we had to try this beast for ourselves. More

[Image: Dagoosh!] If you've ever passed a Subway and thought, "Wait, didn't i just pass one 20 seconds ago?" this map of Subway locations in the U.S. from Dagoosh! won't surprise you. Aside from the lack of a fiery red glow, It doesn't look very different from the McDonald's locations map. The farthest you can be from a Subway is 138 miles, between the towns of Austin and Eureka. [via Buzzfeed]... More

Fast Food Maven picks out the food magnates from Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans. Billionaires in the food business include four members of the Cargill family, Michael Ilitch of Little Caesar's Pizza, and Fred DeLuca and Peter Buck of the Subway restaurant chain.... More

Reginald Peterson of Jacksonville, Florida, wasn't happy with the sandwiches he received at Subway, so he called the cops hoping that they would get him correctly made sandwiches. Instead, Peterson was arrested and the sandwiches of discontent were thrown away.... More

New York Post An X-rated Subway? Grinders in both female and sandwich form? That's what Anthony "Cousin Vinny" Agnello was promising at his Bronx deli, which doubled as "Cousin Vinny's Little Secret" in the private rear room. The former... More

subway.com Starbucks may be closing 600 stores, but the coffee competition is just startin' to brew. Subway will begin testing a café concept in Washington, D.C. by adding espresso drinks, gelato, and paninis to their sandwich menu. The Subway Cafés will be also be larger, and like many other coffee shops, have comfy seating and Wi-Fi. Subway insists they're not looking to get into the coffee house business: the cafés are intended to be placed in office buildings in big cities, not for the shops scattered in rural areas. That said, Subway has 22,000 locations across the U.S.—more than any other fast food chain—so there's potential that this could successfully kick off.... More

jaredremembered.com Oh, the perils of fame. Sometimes, the world is awash in love for you; other times, people are abuzz with news of your fictional death. Jared Fogle became a sort-of-celebrity after losing 245 pounds on a sub-based diet and becoming Subway weight-loss poster child. Jaredremembered.com, a website solely dedicated to commemorating his death and the inspirational life he led, declared in an obit-appropriate solemn tone: “Jared S. Fogel, best known as the spokesman for Subway sandwich shop 'The Subway Guy' Born December 1st, 1977 – Died yesterday at 4:43pm EST.” But the content is all off. The Subway Guy's name is Jared Fogle, not Fogel. The site has been up since March, casting doubt on the significance of the... More

Newsflash: Eating fast food cheeseburgers can make you fat. Subway would like you to believe this is the one and only way you're going to kill yourself with food, and they're not afraid to say it. Please consider the following... More

Yesterday morning, Lia alerted me to the fact that Subway has started to roll out personal pizzas in a few test stores in Manhattan's East Village. The sandwich chain plans to serve the mini pies nationwide by June. Of course, I had to rush out to try it. Speaking of "rush," isn't the saying "fools rush in where angels fear to tread?" Yeah. I think it is. You can read about Subway's personal pizza on Slice, Serious Eats's pizza blog. Short take: The pizza (starting at $2.99 for cheese, pictured above) ain't so good. In other who's-serving-pizza-now news, Dunkin' Donuts is jumping on the bandwagon. Chicagoist tried out Dunkin's wares and found them overpriced: The deep dish-looking pizza has... More